Having a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood doesn’t guarantee you top dollar. A lot of homeowners naturally develop emotional attachments to their homes and over-estimate its value. However, homes don’t sell themselves, no matter how much someone loves your home, they are going to squeeze you for every inch and it’s vital to be prepared for that. In order to make sure you retain an advantage in the negotiation process, it’s vital to hire a realtor with strong negotiation skills. But even if you have the best negotiator in the country, you will still be communicating with the buyer to some extent. It’s important you don’t slip up during these conversations and say something that can negatively affect the negotiation.
The buyer will naturally have questions that your realtor cannot answer, like; ‘How are your neighbors?’, ‘Do you like the local school?’ and so on and so forth. Naturally, you would never purposely kibosh your own deal, but if you’re not mindful and strategic when answering these types of questions, you may kill the deal without you or the buyer even realizing what predicated it. Luckily, the type of communications sellers have with buyers involve many typical scenarios that this useful guide will prevent you from fumbling:
1) “I’m not flexible on price”
A potential buyer will always try to gauge how flexible you are on the price. If you show no flexibility, this will turn off the buyer and will likely kill the potential deal. When making gargantuan purchases, like a house, telling someone you’re not even willing to negotiate is insulting. Always give the impression that you’re flexible and make sure you consult with your realtor before divulging how flexible you are.
2) “It Has Been On The Market A Long Time”
Telling the buyer your home has been on the market for a long time is a colossal mistake. They will immediately smell blood and think you’re desperate. You never want the buyer to think you’re desperate, you want to always appear confident. If they sense weakness, they will lowball you and complicate negotiations. Additionally, it can signal to the buyer that they may be something wrong with the house.
3) “I Can’t Wait To Move”
Telling the buyer you can’t wait to move may subconsciously signal to them that your current living situation is untenable. This could be off-putting to a buyer for a variety of reasons, not limited to; there being problems with the house and having problematic neighbors. This may also signal to them that you are desperate which will yield a low ball offer if you’re lucky to get one at all.
4) “I need to sell quick, I’m getting a divorce”
As outlined previously, the last thing you want to convey to a potential buyer is desperation. Confiding in them that you’re in a bind due to impending divorce proceedings will not yield sympathy. When making a major purchase, nothing supersedes the buyers objective to get the best deal possible. While they may empathize with you, this won’t stop them from going for the throat and squeezing you.
Original article found at http://dreamcasa.org/real-estate-101/selling/selling-home-mindful-say-buyers/